January 2014 Ratings: CNN Loses More Than a Quarter of Audience

Despite the changes Jeff Zucker has made at CNN over the past year, things are still fairly bleak for the network. January 2014 was CNN’s third lowest-rated month ever, with the network losing more than a quarter of its audience in both total day and primetime compared to January 2013.

The ratings for January 2014 (Nielsen Live + Same Day data):

Primetime (Mon-Sun): 408,000 Total Viewers / 131,000 A25-54

Total Day (Mon-Sun): 317,000 Total Viewers / 98,000 A25-54

The network placed third in primetime, down -39% and -35% compared to the same month last year. In total day, CNN placed third in total viewers and fourth in the demo, down -29% and -27%, respectively. This month was heavily driven by political news, including the Chris Christie bridgegate scandal, which tends to hurt CNN.

CNN was down every hour of the day from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. “Anderson Cooper 360″ was the network’s highest-rated show, averaging 484,000 total viewers and 137,000 A25-54 viewers. “Piers Morgan Live” was second in total viewers and “Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown” was second in the demo.

In primetime, which Zucker has said he will be changing this year, the three programs are all down double digits year-over-year. “AC 360″ is down -20% in total viewers and -25% in A25-54 viewers. “Piers Morgan Live” is down -34% in total viewers and -29% in the demo, and “AC360 Later” is down -45% and -46%, respectively.